The Beautiful Lakey

There are a few facts about this lovely breed that you might not know…

I couldn’t help myself… I had to write about the Lakeland Terrier again. The reason is simple, we did really well with two Lakeys on Saturday at Crufts. Saredon This is England, aka Banjo, won Best of Breed, and his daughter Polly, Saredon Finest Things, won Best Puppy. It was only their second show for both of them and they performed exceptionally well and made us proud.

I think between the people, the lights, the noise, and the heat, Crufts can be quite tough on dogs. The shows outside are much easier on them, especially when the weather is nice 😊.

As I mentioned in my last blog, Banjo is the 5th generation of Lakeland terriers winning BOB at Crufts and we really hope this streak continues.  It definitely looks like Polly is on the right track!

Lakeys are cheerful little rascals, hardy and agile. They can be obsessed with water, and very often you can see them standing in water bowls and digging and dunking their heads in it.  They have so much fun doing this!

Did you know Lakeys come in different colours?

• Black and tan – similar to the Welsh Terrier, but the colours are not that rich. The tan is more biscuit like and the black is more charcoal black than intense, rich black.
• Blue and tan – personally, I’ve never seen one.
• Wheaten – very often called red. The intensity of the colour depends on breeding but also on grooming technique.  Hand stripped dogs have richer, darker colours while clipped dogs are paler, more wheaten.
• Red – looks like darker wheaten colour
• Grizzle – grizzle is a very interesting colour. It is a colour pattern that appears as mixed hair on the dog with no discernible pattern. The colour appears blended together, making it look like just one color until you look a it closely. Grizzle colouring may mix black hair with some tan or brown hairs, or white with black, making it appear grey.
• Red grizzle – this is the most common colour and together with red, my favourite. The shades of red grizzle vary, and basically, it’s red hair with a few or a lot of brown and black hair in between. This occurs only on the jacket though as the legs, head, front and back end are wheaten.
• Blue
• Black
• Sometimes we can see small white tips on the feet and chest. It is undesirable but permissible in breeding.

Did you know the Lakeland terrier is one of the vulnerable native breeds?

In June 2003 the Kennel Club tried to identify the breeds which had declined most in popularity. As a result, 300 British and Irish breeds with 300 and less annual registrations were considered vulnerable. Looking at the registrations, Lakeland Terriers were pretty popular in the late ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s but after that, the number of registered litters started to decline. Last year there were only 196 registered pups. So sad, isn’t it?

Back to Crufts… did you know that the first Lakeland Terrier Best In Show winner (back in 1963) was Ch Rogerholme Recruit, handled by John’s grandfather Les Atkinson? The second Lakeland to win was Ch Stingray of Derryabah and he went on to win the famous Westminster show in the USA the following year.

There’s something so special about these flashy little rascals, isn’t there?

Are you a proud Lakey owner? Or would you like to be one?

I’d love to hear from you 😊

Before I go, just a little reminder about Style To Rescue. If you’d still like to make a difference and donate, please click here. Thank you.

Jitka xx

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